Social Question

jca2's avatar

Would you tip a national auto organization worker if they are coming to charge your battery?

Asked by jca2 (16826points) October 14th, 2022

I just called a national automobile organization that I am a member of, because I have a car in my driveway that has a dead battery. Their service is part of my membership, and it will be to assess the battery and charge it or replace it (which I will pay for, of course if I need a new battery).

Should this service be one I tip for?

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11 Answers

zenvelo's avatar

Nope, that isn’t something I would tip for. The garage that sends them out doesn’t pay them by the call. You paid for a year’s service in advance and might never need to use it.

I have paid my dues for twenty years, and have only needed it less than a half dozen times. No need to tip.

RayaHope's avatar

I believe a tip is totally up to you if you want to or not. As you said, you have paid for this service (many times over, I’m sure) so there’s that. Now if the attendant gives you some kind of thing for free that he could have charged for, sure tip him good :)

hat's avatar

I have tipped in this scenario.

Jeruba's avatar

I did, quite recently. AAA, I presume. He was courteous, competent, and quick. That’s worth reinforcing.

I haven’t in the past, though, and I didn’t think it was expected.

jca2's avatar

I just finished up with the guy. Yes, @Jeruba, you guessed it as far as the organzation goes.

The guy hooked up the old battery to charge it and long story short, I ended up buying a new battery from them. It cost 180 with tax (which probably included a fee for disposing of the old battery). I hadn’t read this thread prior to finishing up with him because I wrote it out right when the truck was on the way (they have an app which shows you the truck’s ETA). I only had a few singles and a bunch of twenties,and I felt that three dollars was too little and twenty dollars was too generous, and so I wrote a ten dollar check to “cash” and gave him that.

They, like many restaurants and companies,, now charge 4% fee for using credit cards, so I paid with a check.

janbb's avatar

Situations like that, sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. It depends partly on how prompt and courteous they are but most likely I wouldn’t since it is from AAA.

LadyMarissa's avatar

Not just for coming out to charge the battery; however, IF they do something that goes over & above the service they were contracted to do, yes I will then tip!!! These guys/gals get paid well for the job that they do.

gondwanalon's avatar

I tip AAA guys who come to my rescue. The recent time I got a blow-out flat on my 2017 Ford F-150 pickup. I have never had a problem changing a flat wheel with the spare before. But the wheel rim was frozen to wheel hub. I could not free the rim even though I pounded on it for a long time with a tire iron. It was dark and local people started asking me what I was doing. So I called AAA. I told the AAA guy that I didn’t care if he destroyed the rim, just get the F’n thing off. The AAA said that he’s seen this before and he hit the rim hard 3 or 4 times with a big mallet to free it. Those rims were rotated by Less Swab less than one year earlier so they didn’t have a lot of time to freeze up. Now I carry a big honk’n hammer everywhere I go.
I gave the AAA guy a $20 tip.

JLeslie's avatar

I would most likely give a tip. $5 or $10.

janbb's avatar

It’s funny. This just happened to me today. My car wouldn’t start in my driveway. A guy from AAA came and got it started but it wasn’t running right. He said I could drive it to my mechanic or if it wasn’t too far, towing would be free. So I opted for them to tow it but that meant another guy with a tow truck had to come. The second guy spent more time getting it started again and getting it on the wagon. He also took my house key off the fob for me. I gave that guy a $10 tip.
The first guy was fine but I thought the second went a little above and beyond..

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